The Pretend in the Reality
by jenlovesbones
Summary: "Because that's what Halloween was. A night of pretend." The Hodgins throw a Halloween costume party, with Booth and Hannah in attendance.  You'll only be spoiled if you don't know who Hannah is by now-lucky you! Oh, and I 'ship B&B. One-shot only!


**Happy Halloween Bones fans! This hiatus threatening to make anyone else crazy? This little ditty came to me last night, and it didn't take long to formulate. Hope you enjoy! -Jen**

* * *

-*B*B*-

It had been a long day. A very long day. What was it about Halloween that made murderers more crazy than usual? What was it about Halloween that made _everyone _more crazy than usual and murderers harder to spot among the crazies?

On Friday night, they had their prime suspect in lock up, making him sweat it out, so Booth and Brennan could come in Saturday, fresh to interrogate a more nervous man. And all Booth wanted to do was go home and sleep. Sleep and wake up fresh, so he and Bones could put another bad guy away. But the Hodgins were hosting a Halloween extravaganza, and to his surprise, Hannah was really excited to attend. She had gone shopping more than once to choose her costume. She had gotten him one too, and refused to tell him what either one was. With the chaos of this investigation, he hadn't really gotten excited about wearing a costume or attending a party, especially since he was certain the costumes would match in some way (and that was a little too cheesy for his taste). But really, he just wasn't into celebrating Halloween at all.

After all, Halloween was Parker's holiday. And one he normally spent at least part of with his Dad. But with their latest investigation going as slow as it was, Booth conceded to let Parker do his trick-or-treating with Rebecca this year. And he was incredibly saddened that he was missing out. Parker was already growing up so fast; he may not want to go trick-or-treating again. This was just another one of the heartbreaking losses he faced as a part-time Dad. And it sucked.

So as he pulled up and searched for a place to park on the Hodgins' already overcrowded lawn (and that's saying something when you live on an estate as vast as Hodgins'), he was dreading the rest of this evening. He took a deep breath in an attempt to put on a happy face to go to a party.

"G-man, you know I love this whole knight-and-shining-in-FBI-standard-issue-armor thing you've got going, but you couldn't be a little more creative than coming as yourself?"

"Hey Ange," Booth muttered, a smile quirking at his lips.

Angela laughed as she hugged him. "Welcome to the party, my friend. Let's get you some liquor."

"Wait, wait, wait," Booth said, resisting Angela's pull on his arm, so she would turn around to face him. "What are you wearing?" he asked incredulously.

"I'm a skeleton, of course," she laughed. Angela was wrapped from neck to toes in a body suit, with bones painted on as her skeleton, and then taped a picture of a baby skeleton to her stomach. "It was actually Brennan's idea. Despite all her years working with bodies, she finds it fascinating that pregnancy means you eventually double the number of bones in your body, just before giving birth. _Not actually, of course, as the bones belong to another person, but they are literally inside you during the gestation period,_" Angela finished in a 'Brennan'-like voice.

They laughed, and Booth kissed her on the cheek. "You're gorgeous, you know," he added.

"Oh, I know," Angela said with a know-it-all tone.

"Are you hitting on my woman?" Hodgins asked, coming up behind them. Booth covered his mouth with his hand, to avoid the sudden outburst of laughter that was threatening to happen… loudly.

"No, no, little boy, this woman is not your mommy. Are you even allowed to be at this party?" Booth said in a near giggle.

"Haha, I'll have you know that this is Angie's fault."

"You picked his costume for him," Booth asked incredulously of Angela.

"Actually, Hodgins and I were fighting, which led to us making a bet, in which the winner would pick the other's costume. I won the bet. And I was still a little mad about our fight when I went to get his costume. So, tonight, my husband is Justin, a 12-year-old pop star."

"I still have more money than this kid," Hodgins muttered as he moved his over-exaggerated, shaggy bangs out of his face.

"Hey guys," Cam said, walking up to the group, dressed in her traditional Cat Woman suit.

"Still Cat Woman, Camille?" Booth asked.

"Are you attending the party or arresting someone, Seeley?" Cam snapped back.

Hodgins piped in with a "Don't call me Seeley." Angela followed with a "Don't call me Camille." Booth shook his head while Cam rolled her eyes.

"I figure, 'why mess with a good thing?'" Cam said. "Besides, Brennan and I have had this unspoken superwoman competition going on for a couple of years now. Seems wrong to break tradition." At the mention of Brennan's name, he started to scan the room to look for his Wonder Woman. Or, you know, his partner, Wonder Woman. Not _his_ Wonder Woman, of course. After a brief look around, he realized she was probably still at the lab working since no one was there to drag her here.

"Have you guys seen Hannah yet?" Booth inquired.

Angela turned from greeting the newest couple in the door to answer Booth. "I've been trying to hang by the door for awhile to greet people, but I've been hit and miss, so I don't know if she's here yet. What is she wearing?"

"I have no idea," Booth answered. "She's been set on keeping it a secret all week. She also has my costume, whatever it is."

"I'll keep my eyes peeled for her. In the meantime, walk to the bar and partake in the libations. Don't disappoint me, G-man!" Angela said, walking away from him with Hodgins in tow.

"Bar's that way," Cam pointed, before disappearing into the continuously growing crowd among them.

Booth walked to the bar, and poured himself a drink as he scanned the room. While he wasn't looking forward to this party, he felt out of place without a costume. He studied every figure in the room, laughing at some of the costumes and questioning the sanity of some of the attendee's choices. _Must be a friend of Angela's. Or Hodgins._ Well, of course they all were. Sometimes, he forgot how truly strange his best friends are. The thought made him chuckle. How time had changed him enough to think of the squints as his best friends. They really were.

After a few minutes of surfing the crowd with his eyes, he finally caught sight of her. Her costume surprised him, only slightly. But she was a sight to be seen. She was dressed in a sexy pink bunny costume, worthy of a Playboy pinup to be sure. A little furry tale on her back side, and bunny ears fastened to her head. Her long blonde hair cascaded down her back and her long legs were covered in pink fishnet down to her pink high heels. He could only see the back, but from the looks of the trim and the lace that he could see on her costume, he was certain the front would be a sight to behold.

She had come into the room through a swinging door from the kitchen area, carrying a tray of food and was setting it out on the table. He would have thought Hodgins had plenty of staff to do this for him, but he loved that he loved a woman who was willing to pitch in and help his friends. They were still learning about each other, and he made note to add this one to the list of things that made her Hannah.

Despite the number of people and noise level of the party, he still moved with his sniper-like skills to sneak up on her from behind. He held his breath as he reached her, and snuck his arms around her waist, each of his hands grasping its opposite hip, pulling her hard against his body as he couldn't resist sinking his lips to her neck.

Only something was off. Not wrong. It all felt right. But still...

"Booth, what are you doing?" Brennan asked calmly, once she overcame the urge to throw whoever had the nerve to grab her like that. However, within nanoseconds, she had recognized his scent and his frame, and her panic dwindled to mere confusion at the way he was holding her. But it was the best kind of confusion she had felt in quite some time. That was, of course, until he jumped away from her like she was a contagious disease.

"Bones! What the…

…I thought…

…you're not…

…why aren't you dressed as Wonder Woman?" he shrieked in a high-pitched tone that garnered some looks from other party-goers.

"Angela convinced me to wear a new costume this year. And we had watched this movie during one of our 'girl nights,' and I found the main character intriguing, so I'm emulating her from one of the scenes."

"Were you actually watching a movie, or the Playboy channel?" he said, his voice still an octave too high.

"Oh, I get that, because Playboy models are called 'bunnies.' Though, I don't understand why they're called 'bunnies,' because they are, in fact, women. I assume it's another one of those nicknames men use to demean women who they find sexually attractive in an effort to assert their dominance over them by referring to them as a lesser species," Brennan said, in full anthropologist mode. She looked down at her costume. "Maybe I should have reconsidered the meaning behind my attire," she said thoughtfully.

"I… I… uh, I'm sorry that I… who are you dressed as again?" Booth choked out.

"The character's name is Elle Woods, and she's a college student who no one took seriously, until she studied exceptionally hard, foregoing her normal social activities to get into Harvard Law School. I realized that while there's parts of Southern California and Boston cultures that I am unfamiliar with and would like to study further, there are also more general themes about persevering against the stereotypes society labels you with to obtain a higher education, and therefore, status among your peers. I found that the character and I had some things in common. And she wore a similar costume to a costume party as well, so it seemed fitting. Also, Angela made me go shopping with her for Hodgins' costume, so I had less choice than I would like to admit in being able to wear an outfit of my choosing."

"Only you would find anthropological significance from a movie like 'Legally Blonde', Bones," Booth said, shaking his head with a smile.

"There you are, Seeley," Hannah said, coming up to his side, and linking her arm with his.

"Hannah, hey!" he said a little loudly. "Wow, you look great."

"Thanks, babe," she said, turning to Brennan. "Excellent costume, Temperance. You look ah-mazing!"

"Thank you Hannah. Who are you supposed to be?" Brennan asked, unfamiliar with the character she was trying to portray in a large blue ball gown.

"I'm Cinderella, of course. It's taken me nearly an hour to get my hair this high," she said, cluing Booth in on where she'd been this entire time.

"Your gown seems a little too bright for the themes found in the Cinderella story the Grimm Brothers wrote. Also, based on the time period they wrote it, the style is all wrong," she said in her critical anthropologist's voice, unaware of Disney's Cinderella version. But, she caught her criticism soon enough to add, "However, it is a suiting gown for your figure."

"Thank you, Temperance," she said. Turning to Booth, "And, you, sir, need to go change into your costume, for someone needs to play the role of my Prince Charming."

"You mean my costume as an FBI agent isn't enough for you," Booth asked sarcastically.

"It's not really a costume in the spirit of Halloween, because you are a FBI agent and the goal of tonight is to pretend to be someone else," Brennan explained.

Booth's smile softened as he looked at her again, and said "Yeah, I know Bones. Thanks."

She smiled back, then looked around for her excuse to leave. "I need to get back to helping Angela with the food and party favors. Excuse me," she said with a wave and a quick retreat.

Hannah leaned up to kiss his lips, but only managed to hit his cheek, as he had turned his head to watch Bones leave. He turned back to her, smiling. "Where's my costume, so I can change?"

-*B*B*-

The night went on and the party was more fun than he thought it would be. He danced with Hannah and enjoyed the company of his friends. It was a wonderful night, full of pretend.

Because that's what Halloween was. A night of pretend.

So Brennan pretended that she couldn't still feel Prince Charming's lips on her neck, searing her skin.

Booth pretended that he wasn't constantly watching Elle Wood's fingers lightly graze that spot his lips touched throughout the night.

And Cinderella? Hannah pretended that she didn't notice her Prince Charming spent more time looking at someone else at the ball. She pretended that Prince Charming only had eyes for her, no matter how many women, or one in particular, caught his eyes at the ball. After all, once Prince Charming saw his Cinderella, as the version of the story that she knows best, goes, he can only have eyes for Cinderella. And she _was _pretending to be Cinderella. So, _yes,_ she thought. Everyone pretended on Halloween and she could too.

He smiled at her as they began to dance again. But his eyes drifted away from hers to focus on someone behind her yet again.

Yes, tonight, she could pretend. Of course, tomorrow was a different story.

-*B*B*-

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**Loves? Hates? Let me ask this way- are you throwing me the good candy, or lobbing candy corn my way on this Halloween? : )**

**Thanks to LeeBug1219 for the Bieber suggestion. Though, she didn't know she was sicing the Bieb on poor Hodgins. And, I realized once this was done, Sweets didn't make it into my story… shameful! There was certainly a Star Wars or Star Trek costume to be mocked. To make up for it, I insist you go Rock the Vote over at the Bones Theory Blog for Team Sweets/Wyatt as the ultimate B&B shipper. Hit the comment section to learn my reasons why you should support my guys. : )**

**Okay… instead of candy, can I have a review? Trick or Review!**


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